Frost-protection or Fox-protection?

I have been trying to keep the salad season going a bit longer by protecting a couple of my raised beds with horticultural fleece, but the local Fox population seems to consider this unsporting. Presumably it restricts their ability to root around in my beds to find worms to eat... Today there were big holes in both fleece covers and I had to carry out some emergency repairs. Unfortunately I suspect that it may have been too late, because the plants inside were "crispy" with frost, and some may not survive.

Note footprints on the fleece at bottom left of picture

The other day I planted some miniature daffodil bulbs in some pots, but the blessed Foxes dug them up the next night, so I had to re-plant them and I have now erected a Fox-barrier arrangement using the wire shelves from my mini greenhouses, kept in place with bricks -- see picture below.

The watering-cans are there to act as an additional obstacle...

Obviously, when the bulbs begin to push through the compost those bricks are going to have to go, but maybe by then the Foxes will have given up? (I live in hope...)

The Squirrels were also busy last night. The bird-feeder which hangs in the "Fish" tree was on the ground this morning, empty of course.

Scene of the crime - Exhibit 'A'

It's a battle-ground out there...!

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

My Purple Sprouting Broccoli is coming on nicely. The recent cold weather has made it start to go a deeper purple colour. I think it looks very attractive.

This one is a variety called "Red Arrow". I have two plants each of Red Arrow, Rudolph (another purple variety) and White Eye (white!). You can see that the shoots or "spears" are beginning to form now, although they won't be ready for harvesting for another couple of months yet.

The plants are pretty big now -- maybe 1.25 metres?

They also take up a lot of space for a significant period of time, but I still think they represent good value because I love the end result (loads of lovely succulent, tender spears). [See my earlier blogpost on VSR]. They allow me to be picking veg in February / March, when there is little else available in the garden, which is very satisfying. I feel strangely inadequate if there is ever a time of year when there is NOTHING I can harvest, even if it is just some herbs.

Here's a thought for my 'unconventional' Australian blogging friend Hazel:- You saw the shapes of animals in your clouds. Do you know what my sprouting broccoli pictures remind me of? Spaghetti Junction (officially the Gravelly Hill interchange, in Birmingham, a complicated motorway interchange). Just follow this link and you'll see what I mean...

Spaghetti Junction

The Sun Yat Sen Garden, Vancouver

Back in September, Jane and I went on holiday to Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. Both of us posted to our blogs about this trip, but I don't think either of us mentioned the Sun Yat Sen Garden, so I'm going to rectify that now. My enthusiasm for things oriental has recently been re-invigorated by my friendship with fellow bloggers Takaeko http://greenvege-osaka.blogspot.com/ and Fer http://www.mygardeninjapan.com/ who live in Japan (not China!). Thanks, guys.

 The Sun Yat Sen Classical Garden is named after the Chinese political figure of that name, one of the founders of the Nationalist Chinese state now known as Taiwan. It is a haven of tranquillity in a busy and vibrant city, at the edge of the Chinatown district. Much of it is open to the public free of charge, and we, like many others, popped in to admire it for a short while and to sit down and escape from the busy city traffic. We had little idea what to expect, but we were not disappointed. Here are some photos:-

The Chinatown gate




The garden is supposedly an authentic representation of a garden tradition which reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is characteristic of the private spaces within a Ming scholar’s residence.
Ming dynasty scholars, the elite of their time, lived and worked in their garden, sharing these enchanting spaces with friends and family of all ages.With its asymmetrical arrangement of rocks and plants, its winding paths and corridors, and the vistas that overlook its courtyards, the garden emulates the rhythms of nature.

The tranquil garden in the midst of the high-rise modern buildings

If you're ever visiting Vancouver, I recommend that you include this garden in your itinerary. For further information visit the garden's own website http://www.vancouverchinesegarden.com/

Is Nature inefficient?

Whilst doing a bit of work in the garden recently, I noticed how many of the "Fish tree" (Sorbus) berries have fallen to the ground. The Asparagus bed is covered in them.

These berries are obviously very attractive to birds. As I write I am looking out of the window and watching some Wood-pigeons rather inelegantly gorging themselves on them. Blackbirds are also frequent customers of this tree. All the exuberant bird antics tend to result in three berries falling to the ground for every one that is eaten! (You just try swallowing an apple whole without using your hands, whilst balancing on a narrow pole 20 feet up, and without being able to hold on...). This is probably Nature's way of  "sowing" the seeds.

Each one of these berries has the potential to become another tree -- but it's a very small chance. In my garden they will not be allowed to grow, and I will dig up any that germinate, but maybe some of the seeds eaten by the pigeons, blackbirds etc will emerge in due course in the birds' droppings and fall somewhere that is not under the supervision of a gardener and therefore have a greater chance of success.

All this has got me thinking about why some plants produce huge numbers of seeds whilst others produce very few. Compare Avocado with Chilli (in the seed numbers sense I mean). Why is it that some are so much more efficient than others? And then why, come to think of it, do some plants choose to propagate themselves by sending out runners instead of relying on seeds? What is the most unusual method of propagation you know?

Have you heard of the "Egyptian Walking Onion"? Another name for it is the Tree_onion It doesn't literally walk, but it produces a clutch of bulblets at the end of each of its long leaves. These leaves get top-heavy and fall over, allowing the bulblets to touch the ground and take root, distant from the parent plant by the length of the leaf. In this way the onion patch gets bigger each year if left alone. Clever!

What about the Himalayan Balsam plant? Himalayan_Balsam Its ripe seeds are catapulted my means of a sort of spring mechanism, often travelliing up to 7 metres from the parent plant! If you have ever had one in your garden (NOT recommended because they are very invasive) you have probably heard them "firing off"; they make a loud clicking sound when they fire.

How about the Pohutukawa ("New Zealand Christmas tree")? Metrosideros_excelsa This incredibly robust and tenacious tree starts off very small, and will grow even in the tiny folds and crevices of volcanic lava rock, which tend to collect moisture and dust which eventually creates a sort of soil. As the tree grows, the dense foliage in the umbrella-like shape of the tree creates shade for its own roots, and the tangled root system itself creates more nooks and crannies for capturing water and airborne soil and dust particles, so that the cycle can be repeated. Viewed from above, a Pohutukawa grove would appear like a series of circles with the big trees in the middle and little ones on the outside.  I remember seeing this clearly demonstrated on Rangitoto island just off Auckland, a very young volcanic island.

I'd be interested to hear from my readers about any plants they have with unusual propagation methods.

"Game Over" for the chillis

I have harvested the last of this season's chillis, and cut down the plants, which were beginning to drop their leaves. It has been a bumper year for chillis, in terms of yield, though I have to say that none of my four different varieties had enough heat for my liking. I shall be trying some diferent varieties next year.

This is the final batch that I harvested  -- mostly the Serrano type, but a few of the bigger ones I called "Long Medium" and "Long Fat" because I didn't know their real names.

Most of these will be going in the freezer, to used in making curries and suchlike at some later date. I'm also saving a few for their seeds -- one of my blogging contacts has asked me for some, and I'm happy to oblige.

Talking of which... Can any of you perhaps provide me with seeds for a chilli that meets the following criteria:

1. Prolific producer of fruit

2. Fairly large fruits - perhaps 7cm plus

3. Hot but not "atomic"

4. Preferably red in colour, when ripe

The Ultimate Small Space Garden

The earliest thing I can remember growing is Mustard and Cress. This would have been when I was at Prep School, aged about 8 or 9 I think. We used to grow Mustard and Cress on sheets of blotting paper. I don't remember eating any of it -- maybe we just grew it for curiosity's sake! (or as a means of supplementing the atrocious diet that we were fed...)

More recently I have grown similar things in a similar way, and I have definitely eaten the results. Mustard and Cress and other "Microgreens" can be used as a healthy, nutritious and delectable addition to any salad; as a sandwich ingredient (cress and hard-boiled egg is a traditional British favourite); or as a garnish for practically any meat, fish or vegetarian dish. It is alleged that seedlings harvested as Microgreens are exceptionally high in nutrients; on a weight-for-weight basis they are probably about the most nutrient-efficient foods you can get.

You can use lots of different types of seed, not just Mustard and Cress. Rocket (Aragula) works well, as does Basil, Broccoli and indeed practically any member of the brassica family. Using seeds this way could be expensive, when you consider that you can buy a pack of "Cress" [normally Rape] from the supermarket for about 25p, so you should perhaps try to find ways in which to be more economical. You can often buy suitable seeds in much larger packs than those which you would normally get if you were going to grow the plants conventionally. For instance this 120g (4.23oz) pack of Cress seeds from Dobies, and this 30g pack of Rocket from Johnsons (It is actually an Italian product re-packaged for the UK market).

This is how I grow mine:

Line an old margarine tub with a couple of layers of kitchen paper. You could also use cotton wool, or even compost.

Moisten the paper, without making it too wet.
Sprinkle the seeds onto the moist paper, quite thickly.

The next picture shows tubs of Cress and Rocket, sowed at the same time. Rocket on the left, Cress on the right.

Set the tub aside somewhere fairly warm and light -- e.g. the kitchen windowsill.

In theory you should initially put the seeds somewhere dark, and only bring them into the light once they have germinated, but I find this both unnecessary and impractical, because you have to keep remembering to look to see if they have germinated, and I'm not good at that, so I don't bother. ["Out of Sight = Out of Mind," and all that!]

Each day, check that the kitchen paper is still moist. Never let it dry out.

After a day or two, depending on the type of seed, the seeds will germinate.

In the next picture you can see that little white shoots have emerged from the seeds. My cress germinated slightly quicker than the rocket.

From this point onwards, carefully rinse the tub of seed(ling)s once a day in lukewarm water.
After rinsing, ensure that the kitchen paper is moist but not wet.
The seedlings will grow very rapidly, and will be ready to eat within about a week.

6 days after sowing

6 days after sowing

When the seedlings are about 2 inches (5cm) tall, harvest then by cutting them off close to their bases with a pair of scissors.

The finished item (Cress only the Rocket is a day or so behind...)

You may end up with a few of the brown seed husks in amongst the sprouts, but I wouldn't worry about them -- just remember the added fibre they contribute!

Mosses, lichens and fungi

Here are some photos of mosses, lichens etc, found on the area of heathland near my house.

This one is my favourite. It shows the flowers on a variety of moss. I do not know much about moss, but I recognise its beauty.

It looks even better in close-up.

Here's a different type of moss.

And another -- this time growing on an old tree-stump.

This is a lichen, growing on a fallen tree branch. This type of lichen is very common in England.

This is a rotting tree branch which has been perforated by wood-peckers searching around for insects in the dead wood.

And this one is shows a little orange-coloured fungus nearly hidden amongst the yellow grass...

In my final photo you can see a few more of these orange-coloured fungi, growing in amongst the heather.